Alone • Liam Dunbar

Thirteen

"Scott!" I called out as I bolted out from the main house and down to the lake.

Kira said that after I had left Liam escaped and Scott was desperately trying to find his Beta in the woods around the property. The thought of Scott being alone and vulnerable now that there was a price on his head didn't sit right with me. I told Kira to stay and keep Lydia safe as well as let Stiles know what was going on while I went to search for Scott and Liam.

I went down to the boat house just to be sure no one was down there, finding the side window completely shattered. Once Lydia was able to compose herself she would no doubt verbally assault Scott for allowing that to happen.

The trail of glass led out to the woods and I followed the footprints in the dirt and broken branches that hung low, keeping one hand behind me to draw my gun if necessary. I mentally cursed Liam as the frigid night air nipped at my exposed arms and made me unintentionally tremble. Lydia may have hated my jacket but it sure did its job of protecting me from the elements.

There wasn't any movement I could hear besides the wind and the leaves crunching beneath my boots. Moon rays illuminated the thin forest and provided a decent amount of light. It was because of that light that I caught the edge of a shadow behind me. 

I moved quickly to turn around and aim my gun in the direction of whatever lurked there, expecting to see a shifted Liam but instead was greeted by the muzzle of a hefty Desert Eagle.

"You're getting slow." Chris held the gun at me, only lowering it when I dropped mine first.

I took note of the crossbow he had in his other hand and it dawned on me that Scott had updated Chris on what was happening. It shouldn't have been that much of a surprise, but I couldn't help but feel a little betrayed at the lack of warning from Scott on the possible return of another Argent. Kate was more than enough.

"You didn't happen to see a newly bitten werewolf running around, did you? About this high." I hold my hand up to Liam's height, half-joking but still desperate to find him and Scott.

Chris motioned for me to follow him and I did, still alert to my surroundings and now him.

At one point in my life, I trusted him more than anything but when he let Gerard manipulate Allison so freely, my respect for him dwindled. He had just lost his wife, sure, but I figured if anything that would have made his drive to protect his daughter more intense but he was almost scared of his father.

When things settled and Allison found herself again she brought the three of us together under a new code. I had started to trust Chris again and we all found a better way. He even bought an apartment with enough rooms for me to live with them, and even though we weren't the type to have Friday dinners, for a long time it felt like the closest thing I had to a home. 

Then she died and whatever semblance of a home I ever had with the Argents went with her. Once we took down the Nogitsune and could lick our wounds, he left. He and Isaac ran off to France and he never even offered for me to follow them. 

He abandoned me. 

I was angry with him for so long after it happened but then I realized he never offered because I wasn't his responsibility. I was his sister's pet project that he felt sorry for and had a need to redeem himself over, which he had.

I wasn't angry with him anymore, but I couldn't think of him the same, and now that he stood beside me that mutual comfort we once had was absent.

"Looks like it's gonna rain soon." He commented with a gesture at the cloudy night sky above as we walked and I gave him a bored side-eye.